A Single Mom's Journey to Freedom

This has been my mantra for the past couple of days. Sorry for skipping out on yesterday’s post (and Thursday’s as well). Just for catch up; Thursday was a serious workout day for me and my family. We all stretched and walked to the park, played some basketball, through the football around, tossed the frisbee back and forth, jogged around the park then walked back home. After that we went to the pool and swam for a few hours until our muscles were killing us.

Then in the afternoon a took another walk at another park with the BF where we were able to catch up a little (we don’t get to see each other much).

Anywho, yesterday we took a little break and this evening there is a back to school pool party splash bash in which we will, again, swim until our muscles ache.

I am about 97% sure that I will start my 30 days of Yoga countdown on Monday, however, it’s still not confirmed because I need to find a Yoga source. By this I mean that I don’t have any Yoga video or affordable Yoga classes in town but if I have to YouTube it I will!

Well I said this would be quick and it is because I snuck away from the kids (who are currently waiting for me to start the DVD we’re supposed to be watching together) in order to give you guys an update.

Ok folks! I am on a roll! I took, yet another, 20 minute walk this morning and did well with controlling my portions yesterday. Feeling really good about myself right now 🙂

Can’t wait til Monday when I officially start with the yoga. My oldest son even gave it a try. I thought at first he would see it as “girly” and “soft” but after he tried it he realized that there is a level of difficulty to it, so in a way yoga has earned his respect.

I would love some feedback from the audience on some easy, healthy meal ideas. I say easy because I know if it’s something that’s going to take an eternity to create it’s just not going to happen.

Hope to hear from you soon!

P.S. I am curvalicious right now, however, I will post pics once my curves are a bit more tamed! 🙂

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post here’s what I’ve learned and executed thus far. I’ve done some more research on yoga and found out that next week would be a better time for me to start as mother nature has me sequestered for the next few days.

In the meantime I’m doing what I can to start improving my health. I took a 20 minute walk this morning and had a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries. I think the most difficult time that I have is listening to too many people when it comes to what I should be eating. There’s just too much information out there and I don’t know which one is best for me.

I don’t have any insurance or funds to spend on a nutritionist so my best bet right now is to control my portions. As a little glimmer of hope, this upcoming semester in school, I will be taking a health and wellness class which I’m hoping to gather some great info on what I should/shouldn’t be eating.

So for now I’ll do my best and try to keep everyone posted daily so hopefully they’ll be less chance of me flaking out.

Hello again everyone. A few posts ago I was rambling on about countdowns. How, in my opinion, these were the most interesting types of blogs to follow. It’s almost like watching a soap opera, you just can’t wait to find out what happens tomorrow! Any who, I was dabbling with this idea after seeing a video about a man who was disabled and couldn’t walk without the help of knee braces and forearm crutches. This man was able to rehabilitate himself after starting yoga and now he can walk unassisted.

So I’ve checked out some websites, some YouTube videos and I’m gonna do a little more research but I may give this a shot. Maybe an even crazier idea might be to have a different countdown every 30 days. Maybe Yoga this month and recipes next month, I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far yet.

I am overweight, wouldn’t mind getting more flexible and would love to be able to run. This man’s video inspired me to make a change in my life and maybe by combining it with my blog I could have some kind of accountability. I’m going to take a little walk later on this evening and give this a little more thought. If I decide to go through with this hopefully I can have some followers encourage me along the way. Who knows maybe I can have a sort of virtual group of people doing the same, that way we can encourage each other? Either way this is gonna be a great exercise (no pun intended).

By the way, I’m not that great at adding links so if you want to see the video I’m referring to, go to YouTube and search for Never, ever give up. Arthur’s Inspirational Transformation! I thought, if this man can do it with difficulty walking, I should be thankful that I have full use of my legs (and entire body for that matter) get out there and do this for myself!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but life got in the way and I had decided that it probably only makes sense to write when I have the urge because if I force it then only crap is produced.

Anyway, why the sad face? Well, when I started my ASL I class my professor informed us that once a month people from the Deaf community commune at a particular mall for a few hours and students often gather around to observe. My professor knows some of these people and said that they are accustomed to having students around.

I decided to try it yesterday. I went with my children and sat down at the food court where I saw the group signing to each other. I was soooo nervous. I felt so out-of-place and rude for just sitting there and not participating. They were signing so fast and I couldn’t catch up with all of their conversations. I sent a text to my professor and said that I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t sure whether to approach them or just keep sitting and virtually continuing to eavesdrop on them. She assured me that they were used to it and that it was ok to watch.

After about an hour of watching and getting nauseated from being so nervous, a gentleman approached me and asked if I was learning. We started our conversation which I thought would be great but unfortunately, as I expected, it was still very difficult for me to communicate with him. I was just so nervous that I couldn’t understand what he was saying at times and then felt embarrassed when he would have to slow down for me. I don’t want anyone to have to accommodate me. I feel like it’s not fair for him to have to modify his “speech” for me.

I know it probably sounds like stupid insecurities but I just felt uncomfortable. Though as inadequate as I felt, I will use this experience to fuel my desires to practice more often and really master this language because I truly desire to serve this community and make friends as well. On the bright side, the gentleman provided me with some information on where I may be able to find more events like this and get more involved.

Started off kinda sappy and ended up motivated. I WILL be an interpreter.

I wanted to keep everyone posted on the status of my BFF’s daughter. So far, from the limited information that I have, she has done very well with the chemo therapy. They are planning to send her home tomorrow, although she will be back and forth to the hospital for the next year for her continued treatment.

I miss them sooooo much and can’t wait to rejoice with them in their homecoming. This has been such a difficult time for all of us who love her but of course nothing compared to what her mother has gone through. I just can’t wait to hug and squeeze them both again!!!

I know today’s post is short but just wanted to keep everyone updated. Thanks for reading!

I’ve been catching up on a lot of my blog reading this week. I enjoy searching for and reading other people’s blogs. I love looking for blogs that have to do with writing, blogging, life, love, books, movies, ASL/Deaf Culture, humor and a multitude of other categories.

By far, I think the most interesting and most popular types of blogs, in any category, has to be the countdowns. People that are counting down til they reach a certain age, countdown to their surgeries, countdown to their baby’s birth and the most important one to me, at one time, a recipe countdown. This was the countdown that got me started.

Julie Powell blogged about the time she cooked all of Julia Child’s recipes from a particular cookbook. She made sure she gave her readers a timeline and posted all of her trials and tribulations during her venture. After that she had a book and a movie made about the whole thing. I’m sure I’m missing some steps in there but that’s basically the gist of it.

Then I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to have one of my own? Something that may pique people’s interest and want to read about? However, another less cheerful thought lurks about. Who wants to read about anything you have to say and what would your countdown be about? Should I recount about my son’s 2 weeks in football camp? He’s already made that kind of easy, he’s posting updates to his Facebook everyday, letting everyone know how it went. (I did suggest that he start his own blog but that went in one ear and out the other; teenagers)

Or should I be counting down until there is a wonderful shift in my life and I say, “Woohoo, it’s finally happened, I no longer have to worry about anything ever again!” Yea, probably not. I would need a timeline and that could take forever, or even worse something amazing could happen tomorrow and bye-bye blog topic (that actually wouldn’t be so bad).

I just don’t know the answer but I know the answer’s in there. Hey wait! What if I create a countdown to my countdown? Would that just be too utterly ridiculous? I mean what if started with, “Ok, I am giving myself 30 days to come up with a countdown to something! I have 30 to come up with a topic or…or….or else what?” Oh brother. Maybe I have a couple of screws loose.

I don’t know. Let me ponder upon this for a little bit folks. I’m kinda crumbling under the pressure right now. (Jk, not really)